Do the elected officials in Washington stand with ordinary Americans - working families, children, the elderly, the poor - or will the extraordinary power of billionaire campaign contributors and Big Money prevail? The American people, by the millions, must send Congress the answer to that question.
At a time when the average student is graduating from a four-year college $27,000 in debt, when hundreds of thousands of capable young people no longer see college as an option because of high costs and when the U.S. is falling further and further behind our economic competitors in terms of the percentage of young people graduating from college, no agreement should be passed which, over a period of years, makes a bad situation worse and will make college even less affordable than it is today.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the urgent need to address the rising costs of college education to ensure accessibility for future generations.
In this quote, Bernie Sanders highlights the financial burdens that students face when pursuing higher education, which is leading to a decline in college attendance among capable youth. He argues that any potential agreements or policies that could exacerbate this financial strain should be rejected, as they would further diminish the affordability of college and hinder the country's educational competitiveness on a global scale.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for student loan reform, one could cite this quote to stress the importance of making college more affordable.
More from Bernie Sanders
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Who do you think controls the Republican Party? Big money controls the Republican Party. This is where their campaign contributions come from.
The deficit crisis is real and must be addressed. But it cannot be solved on the backs of the weak and vulnerable.
Let us wage a moral and political war against war itself, so that we can cut military spending and use that money for human needs.
We need an energy revolution by breaking our dependence on fossil fuels, polluting fuels... I am very, very confident our small state will lead this. We will be noticed by the country and the world.
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Whenever you write, whatever you write, never make the mistake of assuming the audience is any less intelligent than you are.
The foundations of any subject may be taught to anybody at any age in some form.
What many students most want from college, although they would never admit it, is an authority structure. There is a demand for an authority which they can then reject; they want to be told what to do, so they can disobey. It is a textbook case of bad faith, a flight from freedom.